The 322bhp Cupra Born VZ Starts At £44,625

The Cupra Born VZ was unveiled earlier this year, finally providing the Volkswagen ID3’s Spanish sibling with some of the extra grunt its performance-ish badge had promised but never really delivered since the model’s 2021 launch. Now, we have confirmation of how much this range-topping electro hot hatch will cost: £44,625.

The spiciest member of the Born family ups power to 322bhp, while torque is now a meaty 402lb ft. This means the 0-62mph run now takes 5.6 seconds, and the electronically-limited top speed is lifted to 124mph from the previous peak of 99 – a pretty reasonable figure for a small EV.

The VZ still sends that sizeable lump of instant torque to the rear wheels, which should make things quite lively. Battery capacity is slightly increased to 79kWh from the previous peak of 77, giving the VZ a WLTP range of 335 miles.

Thankfully, Cupra hasn’t just turned the power up and left the chassis alone. The VZ gets a new dynamic suspension setup, with entirely new springs and dampers at the rear, and updated damper settings at the front. The anti-roll bars are new, and we’re also promised more responsive steering and firmer brake feel.

There aren’t a huge amount of exterior changes to back up the sporting intent – the VZ receives two new designs of 20-inch alloys, which wear unspecified high-performance tyres, and brings two new exterior colours, including the VZ-exclusive Dark Forest. Inside, it receives the bucket seats from the LHD-market only Leon Cup and Formentor VZ5 models.

The Born VZ is part of an emerging category of all-electric hot hatches. Size-wise, it competes directly with theMG4 XPower, although that car is four-wheel drive and brings more than 100 more bhp to the table. Elsewhere, there’s the bigger, more powerfulHyundai Ioniq 5 N, and the smallerAlpine A290 and upcoming electric Mini JCW. There’s also the small matter of the mechanically identical VW ID3 GTX Performance, which is likely to cost similar money when, like the Cupra, it goes on sale later this year.